Most adults with migraines can have sumatriptan tablets or injections. But the nasal spray is only officially approved for people under the age of Sumatriptan is not officially approved for children. However, a specialist doctor may sometimes prescribe it for a child over the age of 6 years. Sumatriptan is not suitable for some people. To make sure it's safe for you, tell your doctor if you:.
You may be able to use sumatriptan if you've had high blood pressure in the past and it is now well controlled with treatment. If you have a latex allergy, check with your doctor or a pharmacist before having sumatriptan injections. Some needle protectors may contain latex. Do not take it at the warning stage, before your migraine starts. This is when some people get symptoms of "aura". If you find tablets difficult to swallow, some come with a line in the middle to help you break them in half.
Check the information leaflet inside the medicine packet to see if you can do this with your medicine. The tablets should work in 30 to 60 minutes. If your migraine improves but then comes back, you can take the same dose again after 2 hours.
However, if the first dose of sumatriptan does not help, do not take another dose for the same attack.
Read the instructions that come with your medicine to find out how to use the pre-filled syringe auto-injector and how to get rid of it safely afterwards. Use the pre-filled syringe to inject 1 dose.
This contains 6mg of sumatriptan. You'll usually inject it into your thigh. However, if the first sumatriptan injection does not help, do not have another one for the same attack.
Read the instructions that come with your medicine to find out how to use the single-use nasal spray. Each spray contains 1 dose 10mg or 20mg of sumatriptan. However if the first dose of sumatriptan does not help, do not take another dose for the same attack.
Do not have more than 2 injections, or 2 doses of nasal spray, or more than mg of tablets in 24 hours. Do not take more than the prescribed amount in any hour period. The maximum amount is mg of tablets, 12mg as injections or 40mg as a nasal spray. Taking too much sumatriptan may make you very ill. An overdose can cause fainting, slowed heart rate, vomiting, loss of bladder and bowel control, and sleepiness. It can narrow your blood vessels leading to heart problems such as chest pains, abnormal heart rhythm or a heart attack.
It can also reduce the blood supply to other organs such as part of your large intestine This can give you a severe stomach ache. If you need to go to hospital, do not drive yourself. Get someone else to drive you or call for an ambulance. Like all medicines, sumatriptan can cause side effects. However, many people have no side effects or only minor ones.
These common side effects happen in more than 1 in people. They're usually mild and short lived. Some of the side effects are similar to the symptoms of migraine or cluster headaches. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist if these side effects bother you or last more than a few days:.
Do not take any more sumatriptan and tell a doctor straight away if you get continued or increasing:. These feelings usually don't last for long. If they continue, or become severe or intense, seek medical help straight away. In rare cases, it's possible to have a serious allergic reaction anaphylaxis to sumatriptan. You can report any suspected side effect to the UK safety scheme. Sumatriptan is not thought to be harmful during pregnancy, but there is not enough research to say for certain.
Talk to a doctor about the benefits and possible harms of taking sumatriptan. Acute medications are designed to stop a migraine attack or cluster headache after the attack begins. By stopping the migraine, acute medications help alleviate the symptoms of migraines such as pain, nausea, and sensitivity to light and sound.
Unlike other acute medications, triptans are considered selective serotonin receptor agonists, meaning that triptans work by stimulating serotonin, a neurotransmitter found in the brain, to reduce inflammation and constrict blood vessels, thereby stopping the headache or migraine.
This may help you to decide if preventative treatment is worth a try, and also to help assess if you may have medication-induced headache. See the leaflet called Migraine trigger diary, including a migraine diary that you may like to print out and use. All the changes relate to medication to prevent migraine and the risks they could carry if you become pregnant while taking them.
In addition, the MHRA the body that regulates medications in the UK has updated its guidance on the use of some medicines used to prevent migraines. Beta-blockers include propranolol , atenolol , metoprolol , timolol and nadolol. They are commonly used to treat conditions such as angina and high blood pressure.
It was first noticed by chance that some people who were treated for angina , who also had migraine, found their migraine attacks episodes lessened when on propranolol.
It is not clear how they work to prevent migraine. However, beta-blockers are now a common treatment for migraine - most commonly, propranolol. A low dose may work, but the dose can be increased if necessary. Some people cannot take beta-blockers - for example, some people with asthma or peripheral arterial disease.
Medicines called sodium valproate and topiramate are sometimes used. These are classed as anticonvulsants , and are usually used to prevent seizures of epilepsy. However, it was found that they can also prevent migraine attacks. Sodium valproate is not recommended for the prevention of migraines under national guidelines. Amitriptyline is classed as a tricyclic antidepressant. However, it has an anti-migraine action separate to its antidepressant effect.
It is not clear how it works for migraine. A low dose is started at first, and can be increased if necessary. Some people cannot take amitriptyline - for example, people who have had a heart attack myocardial infarction , or have coronary heart disease, arrhythmia , or epilepsy. Note : strictly speaking, amitriptyline is not licensed for preventing migraine. However, in practice, it is commonly used, and many doctors are happy to prescribe it for this purpose.
This medicine is classed as a calcium-channel blocker. It is used quite a lot in many countries as a medicine to prevent migraine. However, flunarizine is not marketed and is not licensed in the UK. Despite this, it is sometimes specially imported from abroad under the direction of a headache specialist when it is considered worthwhile to try. Various other medicines have been used for the prevention of migraine attacks.
Most have limited evidence regarding their effectiveness or have potentially serious side-effects. However, if all else has failed, a specialist may suggest that you try out one of these. They include pizotifen , gabapentin , calcium-channel blockers , lisinopril , and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors SSRIs.
NICE has issued guidance on the use of galcanezumab and erenumab. These are both monoclonal antibodies, which work by blocking the action of a natural substance in the body that causes migraine headaches.
NICE recommends that galcanezumab or erenumab should be considered as an option for preventative treatment for migraine in adults. However, this only applies to people who:. It recommends that treatment with galcanezumab and erenumab should only be continued for more than three months if the number of migraines does not drop by at least half for people with fewer than 15 headache days a month or by at least a third for people with at least 15 headache days a month.
Medications used to treat menstrual migraine are the same as those used to treat other forms of migraine. However, your doctor may recommend other treatments to be take regularly, in order to prevent or reduce the severity and frequency of menstrual migraines. To find out more, see the separate leaflet called Migraine Triggered by Periods. An interesting research study published in compared two groups of people who had frequent migraines.
One group took a beta-blocker medicine alone. Another group took a beta-blocker but also had a course of behavioural migraine management BMM. BMM included education about migraine, helping to identify and manage migraine triggers, relaxation techniques and stress management. After a number of months the group of people who took the beta-blocker plus BMM had, on average, significantly fewer migraines compared with the group who took beta-blockers alone.
Further research is needed to confirm this and to look at BMM combined with other medicines to prevent migraine. This decision was based on research studies that seemed to show it to be an effective treatment at reducing the number of migraine attacks episodes. Treatment consists of up to five courses of treatment with botulinum toxin injections every 12 weeks.
The injections are given into muscles around the head and neck. It is not clear how this treatment may work for migraine.
Botulinum toxin relaxes muscles but it may also have some sort of action to block pain signals. The theory is that these actions may have an effect of stopping a migraine headache from being triggered. In , guidelines were issued by NICE on this treatment. NICE recommends botulinum toxin type A as a possible treatment for preventing headaches in some adults with persistent chronic migraine.
The criteria set down by NICE for people who may be considered for this treatment are:. Note : botulinum toxin injections are also used for cosmetic purposes - for example, as a treatment to smooth out wrinkles.
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Double-blind clinical trials of oral triptans vs other classes of acute migraine medication - a review. Sumatriptan plus naproxen for acute migraine attacks in adults. Australian medicines handbook. Comments There are currently no comments for this article. Make a comment:. Please login to make a comment. This article is 7 years and 4 months old. Social sharing. In this issue Bipolar disorder: Identifying and supporting patients in primary care Atypical antipsychotics: one fully subsidised brand for quetiapine, risperidone and olanzapine Oxycodone: how did we get here and how do we fix it?
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South Link Health South Island general practice support ». SLH Group Practice acquisition and careers in health ». Dose may be repeated after at least two hours if migraine recurs; maximum mg in 24 hours.
Dose may be repeated once after at least one hour if migraine recurs; maximum 12 mg in 24 hours.
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